Heo Haengyang received a bachelor's in English language and literature and master's in mass communication and journalism from Korea University. He was a journalist for a decade before pursuing a doctorate degree in media economics at Northwestern University. He is a professor of media communications at Sejong University and the author of Celebrity Marketing and Scandal: Korean Elites and Media. Heo's key research area is celebrity marketing and social media marketing. He aims to make communications more accessible to the public.